Posted on 08/12/2008 1:40:53 PM PDT by NYer
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In the not-too-distant future, songs such as "You Are Near," "I Will Bless Yahweh" and "Rise, O Yahweh" will no longer be part of the Catholic worship experience in the United States.
At the very least, the songs will be edited to remove the word "Yahweh" -- a name of God that the Vatican has ruled must not "be used or pronounced" in songs and prayers during Catholic Masses.
Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Divine Worship, announced the new Vatican "directives on the use of 'the name of God' in the sacred liturgy" in an Aug. 8 letter to his fellow bishops.
He said the directives would not "force any changes to official liturgical texts" or to the bishops' current missal translation project but would likely have "some impact on the use of particular pieces of liturgical music in our country as well as in the composition of variable texts such as the general intercessions for the celebration of the Mass and the other sacraments."
John Limb, publisher of OCP in Portland, Ore., said the most popular hymn in the OCP repertoire that would be affected was Dan Schutte's "You Are Near," which begins, "Yahweh, I know you are near."
He estimated that only "a handful" of other OCP hymns use the word "Yahweh," although a search of the OCP Web site turned up about a dozen examples of songs that included the word.
OCP is a nonprofit publisher of liturgical music and worship resources.
Limb said the company would be contacting composers to "ask them to try to come up with alternate language" for their hymns. But he said hymnals for 2009 had already been printed, so the affected hymns would not include the new wording for at least another year.
Even when the new hymnals are out, "it may take time for people to get used to singing something different," he added in an Aug. 11 telephone interview with Catholic News Service.
At Chicago-based GIA Publications, another major Catholic publisher of hymnals, no major revisions will be necessary, because of the company's longtime editorial policy against use of the word "Yahweh."
Kelly Dobbs-Mickus, senior editor at GIA Publications, told CNS Aug. 11 that the policy, which dates to 1986, was based not on Vatican directives but on sensitivity to concerns among observant Jews about pronouncing the name of God. As an example, she cited Heinrich Schutz's "Thanks Be to Yahweh," which appears in a GIA hymnal under the title "Thanks Be to God."
Bishop Serratelli said the Vatican decision also would provide "an opportunity to offer catechesis for the faithful as an encouragement to show reverence for the name of God in daily life, emphasizing the power of language as an act of devotion and worship."
His letter to bishops came with a two-page letter from the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, dated June 29 and addressed to episcopal conferences around the world.
"By directive of the Holy Father, in accord with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, this congregation ... deems it convenient to communicate to the bishops' conferences ... as regards the translation and the pronunciation, in a liturgical setting, of the divine name signified in the sacred Tetragrammaton," said the letter signed by Cardinal Francis Arinze and Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, congregation prefect and secretary, respectively.
The Tetragrammaton is YHWH, the four consonants of the ancient Hebrew name for God.
"As an expression of the infinite greatness and majesty of God, it was held to be unpronounceable and hence was replaced during the reading of sacred Scripture by means of the use of an alternate name: 'Adonai,' which means 'Lord,'" the Vatican letter said. Similarly, Greek translations of the Bible used the word "Kyrios" and Latin scholars translated it to "Dominus"; both also mean Lord.
"Avoiding pronouncing the Tetragrammaton of the name of God on the part of the church has therefore its own grounds," the letter said. "Apart from a motive of a purely philological order, there is also that of remaining faithful to the church's tradition, from the beginning, that the sacred Tetragrammaton was never pronounced in the Christian context nor translated into any of the languages into which the Bible was translated."
The two Vatican officials noted that "Liturgiam Authenticam," the congregation's 2001 document on liturgical translations, stated that "the name of almighty God expressed by the Hebrew Tetragrammaton and rendered in Latin by the word 'Dominus,' is to be rendered into any given vernacular by a word equivalent in meaning."
"Notwithstanding such a clear norm, in recent years the practice has crept in of pronouncing the God of Israel's proper name," the letter said. "The practice of vocalizing it is met with both in the reading of biblical texts taken from the Lectionary as well as in prayers and hymns, and it occurs in diverse written and spoken forms," including Yahweh, Jahweh and Yehovah.
When the Masorites, the rabbinical editors of the Hebrew Bible during the ninth century A.D, provided vocalization signs to the four consonants of the tetragram, they indicated that Yahweh should always be pronounced Adonai. This led to the longstanding misconception that the divine name was to be pronounced "Jehovah," a misunderstanding produced by the addition of the vowels of 'adonai to the consonants of the tetragram yhwh.From The Westminster Theological Wordbook of the Bible By Donald E. Gowan
Thanks...I’ll bring it up with the pastor. And I will continue to say “MEN” to be rebellious. ;)
THe use of Yahweh, sorry to say, reminds me of the ridiculous, hippy folk mass with the guitars and tamborines I always disliked as a kid in the 1970’s. Let’s get back to Latin.
Jesus says it too.
“Our Father who is in heaven, Holy is your name.”
Excellent! Is there any doubt that we have been blessed with Pope Benedict? :)
“The bornagains”? So Roman Catholics aren’t born again as Christ said we must be in John 3:7? I haven’t seen even the most strident of Protestants on this board make that claim. ;-)
Anyhow, the use of “Jehovah” always irked me, seeing as it’s a false, butchered substitute for God’s name. We’ve replaced it with Yahweh in a couple of songs at my church.
oh please.
“Jesus says it too.”
Well, according the the Book of Hebrews, Jesus supplanted the high priest (my ancestors) by being of the order of Melchizdeck (both king and priest) and, in fact, referred to his body as the Temple.
Given that the only person who could speak this particular familiar name of God was the High Priest in the Temple, if one believes Jesus is the Messiah as claimed, he would have the right to use that name of God.
But for common folk, using that name is getting “above one’s station” so to speak.
Just my opinion.
If what is said is determined by what offends the Jews, then there is much in the Bible that would need to be removed.
(Mat 27:24-25) “When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. {25} Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.”
(1 Th 2:16) “Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.”
Of course, the Bible also teaches that they are covenantally beloved for the father’s sake (Rm. 11). And that the most manifest apostle was so heavily burdened for them they he was willing to be damned if it meant their salvation (Rm. 9:3).
If a change were based upon it’s doubt as a proper translation of the sacred tetragrammaton*, one might be tempted to remove Jehovah as well, seeing as the letter “J” was unknown till the 11th century or so (or so i read).
And then there is the controversy by some (mostly elitists) even over the name Jesus.
But i know God answers prayer in that name above all names, and sanctions translations into other languages, and looks at the heart and who the soul is directing prayer to (which was always to God in Heaven), than whether one uses God, Yaweh, Jehovah, Y’shua or Jesus. To pray in the name of Jesus is not that of appending His name at the end of a prayer, but to pray consistent with His heart and will, in truth. Which i often fail to do as i should
(Isa 66:2b) “but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.”
*YHWH. Ancient Hebrew had no written vowels, or superscript/subscript vowel markings.
No spaces either, right?
I find the idea amazing.
The Tetragrammaton should not be pronounced by a commoner like me, but "pseudonyms" like "Lord" and "God" do not represent such an offense.
Is that accurate?
It's OK. Protestants have been twisting other people's words for half a millenia.
Saved paper. We’re an economical people.
millenium.
I’m amazed at first glance that it can all be parsed properly. Of course, with His help, it’s a piece of cake.
LOL! True! I think Hebrew might have invented the acronym -- I guess actually they're abbreviations, but so many have their own pronunciation. There is a whole dictionary of Hebrew abbreviations; I had a course in Hebrew on lexicography, and the professor brought it in to show us.
“The Tetragrammaton should not be pronounced by a commoner like me, but “pseudonyms” like “Lord” and “God” do not represent such an offense. Is that accurate?”
Absolutely correct. Indeed, NO ONE outside the Temple should be saying it.
On a related note, you will see God written “G-d” outside of scripture because it is against the Law (realy more implied, but clear) to destroy the the name of “God” -— the idea being that the casual writing of His name could lead to accidental destruction. Bit of an affectation, IMHO, which I sometimes tend towards.
But if I use the term Lord or God, fully spelled, would this be offensive?
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